How AI Is Affecting Everyday Life

Many people associate Artificial Intelligence (AI) with science-fiction robots. But, the truth is AI and machine learning are extensively used behind the scenes to impact our lives in various ways. The innovation is present in our everyday lives, whether driving, listening to music, streaming movies, or even reading our emails.

Recently, "AI for social good" has been a growing phenomenon, especially among the advocates of AI technology who continue to acknowledge the tremendous benefits of the innovation at both individual and societal levels.

What is AI?

Artificial intelligence refers to technologies that execute tasks by imitating human intelligence and can improve themselves repeatedly based on the data they collect. AI is essentially a simulation of human intelligence by machines and computer systems. Examples of applications of AI today include self-driving vehicles, smart assistants such as Siri and Alexa, conventional bots, and Netflix's recommendations.

How Do People Use AI in Their Everyday Lives?

The AI market is massive and impacts many aspects of our daily lives, from sunrise all through to the night. Here are several ways people use AI capabilities in their day-to-day lives:

• Social media: almost everyone is on social media or has access to a social media platform, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and more. These social networks use AI behind the scenes to personalize what people see on their feeds. The role of AI in social media is to improve user experience and to advertise more effectively to users.

• Web searchers: search engines like Google, Bing, and yahoo, among others, utilize AI to scan the entire internet and deliver what a user wants. Through ranking algorithms, AI plays a huge role in what a user sees on the first page of a web search and the order in which the results appear.

• Media recommendations: media platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube, Hulu, Apple Music, and Spotify are massive users of AI. They use the technology to recommend what to watch or listen to.

• Autonomous driving: car manufacturing brands such Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and Audi are increasingly using AI and machine learning to enable vehicles to drive passengers without them having to take control of the vehicle.

How Has AI Grown in the Last Couple of Years?

The concept of AI has been around for decades. Innovators first explored the potential of the technology in the 1950s. However, the journey of today's AI took a massive turn in 1974 following the flourish of computers. The AI research fired up in the 1980s with a massive expansion of funds and algorithm tools. However, AI growth has seen a significant increase in the last decade. For instance, AI research has grown by 12.9% annually over the last five years.

What Can We Expect the Future of AI To Be?

Through AI, experts predict that the world is on the verge of experiencing the fourth industrial revolution, which sets humanity apart from the previous three industrial revolutions. The increased adoption of cyber-physical systems, IoT, and the internet of systems will exponentially affect how humans relate to one another, work, and live.